The second day of school, I wake up battle-ready and pissed off. It won't take but one interaction to make me sock him in the face—and I took self-defense, so I'm pretty sure I stand a good chance against him in a fight. I dress in a dark gray, ribbed v-neck t-shirt, and black skinny jeans with my combat boots and leather jacket. I straighten my hair and put on a thin layer of makeup. He wants to screw with me, fine. But know that I invented the game he's playing—he won't win.
I grab a piece of gum and spray myself with my Sandalwood and Jasmine perfume. Put together nicely enough that it should make him think twice about screwing around with me, I leave the house. Mom is out scouting for jobs, so I walk to school. The air is crisp, cold, and mists when I exhale. It takes a good twenty minutes to get to the school, but when I do, I'm glad I walked. The traffic is horrible where parents are dropping off their kids.
But, of course, I also kind of regret it—Drew is standing by my locker. Instantly, I know that this will end in a fight. Okay, leaning on my locker would be better fitting, since that's what he's doing. He looks almost bored, playing a game on his phone. I steel myself and walk up to him. "Do you mind moving?" I ask, teeth clenched. "You're on my locker."
"So?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. His amber eyes glance down to meet my gaze. "My foot still hurts. You want me to move, you ask nicely—and you have to apologize."
I can't help it—I laugh. "I'm sorry, what? You fucking cornered me after fourth period, and grabbed my wrist when I knocked into you! If anyone should apologize, it should be you!"
The blonde from yesterday comes up to Drew's side. "Hey, boss," he says. "What are you doing? Your locker is—oh." He sees me. I force a smile, and he nods a greeting in my direction before turning to his friend. "Calypso is looking for you?"
"I'll be there when class starts, Josh. I have...bussiness to deal with."
I bristle, crossing my arms against my chest. "Excuse me?"
"I'm not moving until you apologize." He shrugs. I turn to Joshua.
"Josh, is it? Nice to meet you, but you might want to move," I warn. Without question, he retreats to his class. Drew keeps his wary gaze locked on me. Teeth clenched, I put my hair up in a ponytail and tighten my boots up. "Last chance, Drew—move." It's not a request. My fists clench, almost vibrating. My body feels red-hot, angry, ready to move, and it's in fight-or-flight mode. I can't promise that if he doesn't back off, I can stop myself from throwing him to the ground.
"No," he growls. I can tell his energy is on the same level is mine. The bell rings. People clear the hallways. We stare at each other as the announcements crackle across the hallway from ancient speakers.
I smile pleasantly. "I was hoping you would say that," I tell him and then bring my fist back, snapping it foreword to his nose—but he catches it with a raised eyebrow.
"And I was really hoping you'd do that," he answers. Fury trickles down to my toes and what ensues could be something from a combat movie—we trade blows, never actually getting contact, until he has me pinned against the locker. We're both out of breath, but I try to breathe through my nose—and immediately regret it. All I smell is him—a spice I can't name, cedar, something strong and heady, reminding me of a thunderstorm and large trees, something dark. My teeth clench. His eyes turn gold.
The first three words I can think of all describe him and his scent: dark, dangerous, beautiful.
"Are we done now?" he hisses at me. His voice is harsh. My eyes dip down to his lips.
I lick my own. "Sorry." I say, and look back up at him. His eyes are a bright.
He leans foreword, and I grin to myself, stomping on his foot and dancing out and away from him. When he straightens from his doubled-over position, his eyes are alight with anger. I blow him a kiss. "At least I apologized this time," I point out. He glares at me.
"You're asking for it," he growls. "Don't let me catch you alone. You start a fight, you better be willing to finish it."
"Oh honey," I say, "you better believe I am."
*~*~*~*
"Dude what the hell got into you?" Josh asks, and the Alpha tries not to radiate anger and order in waves. Drew slams himself into his desk and glares.
"That bitch left marks," he growls. "Look at this, Josh!" He racks up his jacket sleeve, where five crescent marks sit neatly in his skin, pink against tan. "Fuck this, man. This is bullshit. I can't mate to her, but if I don't find someone in the next few months, I forfeit my Alpha rank to you or your brother. This is--."
"Bullshit, I know," Josh finishes. "You act like forfeiting to me or Tyler would be that bad. You've taught us everything; I'd think you have more trust in us than that." He sulks a little in his seat and Drew groans, frustratedly pulling at his hair.
"Josh, come on. It's not--you n' Tyler both are my betas for a reason. You're as trustworthy as they come okay? That's not the problem. Do I seem like a beta to you? An omega? A hunter?" His mouth spits the words like poison. "No, I don't. I don't take orders, Josh. I give them. I can't sit back and watch someone else run my pack; I have to be at the front-lines. I don't-this is who I am. I can't function if I'm not Alpha. I've done fine since I first shifted--why does is it matter if I mate now?" His hands clench into fists under the desk and his teeth grind so hard they creak.
"Do you really need that answered, Drew?" Someone asks behind him, and he looks up. Jared is standing at his shoulder, wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. "If so, come talk to me after class. I've excused you if you need to leave."
"No--I mean, yeah, but...shit, Jared, I can't..." He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Mr. Rodel? Can I speak with Drew outside for a moment? I'm his guardian. I have a visitor's pass if you'd like to see it," Jared offers. The teacher doesn't even look up, just waves them away. They go into the hall. Jared gives a heavy sigh. "You need to rein yourself in. You reek of anger. Any shifter in the school would cower around you."
"Really?" Drew growls. "Any shifter? Because that bitch didn't, J. She tried to sock me in my face!"
"I'm aware--I was only in the next room. I had full visibility over you. You're lucky no one else did. You really did not notice anything while you were busy fighting, did you? As I understand it, you antagonized the entire thing. While that was a good idea to get her to hate you--and probably succeeded, as well--you need to watch yourself. I underestimated your Alpha hormones. You don't have seven months, Drew."
His stomach drops. His fists clench tighter. "How long do I have to find a mate then?" He demands.
"You have one month to drive her away or claim her. I was there the entire time. You were fighting that bite instinct already."Jared eyes him carefully. "Weren't you?"
He looks away. "I had a handle on the situation."
"Mm. And how is your foot, then?" The council member raises an eyebrow. "I want to help you, Alpha. I do. You asked why you need a mate and here's the answer: you're coming into your final shift. That doesn't mean you can't go back and forth, but that does mean that you'll be at your full power. Having a mate means sharing that power--it levels you out. If you're not mated and all that power develops, you're at risk of going rogue."
Drew's lips pull back from his teeth in a snarl. "I would never-."
"Not consciously, maybe. but if you're high on Lunac power and as strong as ever, do you think you're going to be clearheaded enough to fight that urge? Rogues are unpredictable, Drew. They're drunk on the Lunac magic, and when they run out, they start to get bloodthirsty. I'm asking you now, as a Council member, as a friend, as someone who thinks of you as a son; please don't put this pack in that position."
He feels sick. "You wouldn't...I would never hurt you. I'd never..." He swallows. He knows that it's more than likely that he would.
If he were to turn rogue, Drew would also turn bloodthirsty. It's a chain reaction. And when that happens, Jared, along with the other council members, have to do what's best for the pack. If that means eliminating that threat, they would. They wouldn't kill him: no, they weren't that cruel. They would extract the Lunac power, which would erase his memory of being a shifter and turn him human. It's the nightmare world of shifter land.
"Please, Drew." Jared says, his voice soft.
"What are my options here? Spell it out for me, J." He says with a sigh. His anger is replaced with resign. He's got no other choices.
"With Shylah around, you have two options and one month starting the day you met her to decide. Every day you're around her, your body will condition itself for the 'bite or fight' instinct. It knows the final shift is coming, and fast. It will prefer to claim, which means that even if you absolutely hate her mentally, your body will get increasingly attracted to her as time goes by. Here's your choices with her: bite or ignore her. The good news is that once you claim someone else, that urge to claim her goes away. Unless your Lunar Mates, but that's practically mythical, it's so rare. It's on the same shelf as goblins, ghosts, and fairies. Now, if you choose to ignore her, you better control your bodily urges. Don't smell her, stay as far from her as you can. If you can't do that, we're going to have some major issues."
"I don't even know if she's shifted yet."
"She hasn't. I caught her scent while you two were fighting--if you could call it that. She will soon, though. I'd say within a week, if that. And when that happens, you're in for a ride. Her scent will mature, which means it'll change. Your body will sense that she's changed, and it will want to claim even more. So ignore her at all costs."
Drew scrubs his hands over his face and sighs. "What's my other option?"
"You can claim her. But if you consider that, remember the bond that comes with it. You don't have the luxury of the single-pack mind. She'll be there, too. She'll know everything. That's the hardest part. That said, if you claim her, don't do it against her will. Not only will you be put as a lone wolf for that, because I refuse to have an unwilling participant in my pack, but that bite will not heal right. It can be deadly. If you claim her, you have to have a relationship with her. That's why it's so difficult."
Jared watches him closely.
"Screwed and tormented physically if I do, screwed and chained if I don't," Drew mutters. "Damn, this sucks."
"I never said being Alpha was easy, Drew," the council member reminds. "Those are just your choices with her. Now, if you run her off, that's going to get rid of those problems. But that means being in close proximity and your body will register her as unmarked territory, and then you're back to that fighting your instinct thing."
"Fuck my life," Drew groans. "How long did you say I have?"
"One month around her before your instincts override your mind, four months before you have to find a mate no matter what or forfeit your rights."
"Being Alpha sucks," the brown-eyed shifter says, pouting. Jared nods, agreeing.
*~*~*~*~*
What I find odd about the entire second day with Drew is that the red-hot, lava-in-my-veins-angry feeling never really leaves. I have to get out of there, and fast. I feel ansty. Anxious. Uncomfortable n my own skin. I go home early and go for a run in the woods. It helps, but the scent of Drew is an undercurrent of the wooded smell in the forest, and it doesn't take the feeling away completely. I take a nap. Drew ignores me the rest of the day.
The third day, the feeling is worse. I clean my entire room from top to bottom, do the stack of homework I'd built up, and even workout for an hour, running a good two-miles afterword. The feeling doesn't go away. He still doesn't acknowledge me.
The fourth day, I wake up in a cold sweat, and lava turns to ice. I feel like I have the flu, and I stay home in hopes it goes away.
It doesn't.
*~*~*~*~*
The fifth day since school started for me, I wake up at nine o'clock at night, in aching pain. It's bone-deep, and my muscles spasm like their being electrocuted. I lock myself into my bathroom and sit with my back against the wall. The pain is so intense that tears sting at my eyes. Black dots dance in and out of my vision. I close my eyes.
When I open them again, I'm in the woods, on hands and knees, panting, and suddenly very, very hot. My skin feels like it's on fire. I shut my eyes, groaning, an a voice meets my ear.
"Easy," he says. I open my eyes, but my voice won't work. "You're shifting. You're going to be okay."
"Who are you?" I ask. I clench my teeth and groan as my back hunches with a snap. "Fuck! What am I?!" The pain is overflowing. My skin burns. "What's happening?"
"My name is Jared. I'm just like you. It hurts now, but it won't next time. Breathe. Do you have a name?"
"Shylah Montgomery. What..." A growl rips out of my throat "Son a bitch! What did you mean, just like me?"
"I'm a shifter—I can shift between wolf and human. Not a werewolf—no silver, no iron, nothing like that. Listen to me. I need you to take deep breathes. In through your nose, out through your mouth. You can do this, Shlyah and then I'll explain everything. But you're tense and you won't breathe right. It's making the pain worse."
"You what?" My fingers dig into the ground, cold and wet earth giving way to heated skin.
"Listen to me," he urges, lips close to my ear, hands firm on my shoulders. His palms are ice cold. "You have to do as I say."
"Sorry to disappoint," I grunt. "I don't—shit!" My fist pound into the ground. I can feel my knuckles crack.
"Alphas," he scoffs to himself. I growl, and this time, the sound isn't human. It's animal. I swallow, and the taste of blood is thick on my tongue. I finally start taking deep breathes. The pain lessens a degree. My breathing eventually turns to whines and growls. I stare at the ground and my eyesight changes. My nose can smell more with every breath. I can feel someone's hand—I'm guessing it's Jared's—pet from my neck down my spine. It's a soothing feeling.
When the pain finally eases, the sun is peaking over the mountain ridge and light filters onto us. I look around. There are wolves surround us. I struggle to a stand, one paw at a time. They all watch with guarded eyes. Jared stands in front of me. "The two blonde wolves are brothers. The lighter is Josh, the darker is Tyler. The darker gray one is Calypso. The red female is Jemma. The red male is Ryan." He stops. I shake my head. Too much, too much I have to get out of here. I back away. Jared watches me. He steps forward.
"Easy," he says softly. I growl at him. Easy? Seriously? Are you kidding me I'm a fucking wolf! I' not human! Not normal! And all he can say is 'easy'? I need to get out of here. I turn and bolt away. A blonde wolf follows me, so I kick up the speed.
Then a black blur tackles me from the side and sends me flying. I grunt as I land on my side and shake myself off. I growl, lowering my head and pinning my ears to my head, lips lifting to reveal teeth. We circle each other.
"Move out of my way," I growl.
His tail lashes back and forth, his hackles rising. Brown eyes stare at me wordlessly. A challenge I accept readily. I launch myself at him, and we land in heap of fur and fangs and snarls. I bite the scruff of his neck; he snaps his teeth closed on my shoulder.
We're in a fight, and I'm not stopping until he gives in.